Chapter 16

Severus lifted his wand to distribute the marked scrolls to their owners. They floated through the classroom and settled quietly in front of the students they belonged to.

Xena Williams scoffed and said to her friend, "Too bad I'm not his type like Harry Potter is. Maybe he'd have given me a higher mark."

She, obviously, hadn't intended for Severus to hear.

"Pardon me, Ms Williams? Would you care to stay for detention and discuss more of your speculations on my private life?"

The terror on the fifth year Ravenclaw's face was clear. She shook her head full of blonde curls.

"No, Professor. I'm sorry."

"Does anyone else have any speculations, rumours, or outright lies they'd like to discuss? Or could we get on with this forsaken class?"

Severus's next class was a nearly identical repeat.

"Harry Potter is fucking him, you know." Bradley Jones, the sixth year Gryffindor whispered to anyone within earshot... including Severus himself.

Severus's blood pressure immediately spiked.

He grasped the edges of the table and leaned in intimidatingly close to the student.

"I doubt Harry Potter is 'fucking' anyone. He's pitiful and awkward. Who would want him? Besides, wouldn't you think the little 'saviour' is far too busy 'saving the world' to be worried about meaningless school boy interpersonal relationships?"

"Forgive me, Professor," the student sounded apologetic, but his defiant eyes spoke otherwise. "It's just that the Slytherins themselves insist he is sleeping with Draco Malfoy."

"Mayfoy," Snape echoed.

"Some say you, sir. But most of them say he is dating Malfoy. Either way, we Gryffindors are just surprised he's a poofter."

The mutters and murmurs around Jones confirmed what he was saying.

"Rumours are despicable. They are the lowest form of entertainment. Given your marks in my class, I suggest you spend less time gossiping and more time studying."

The student glared at him but said nothing more.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor," he bellowed as he returned to his position at the front of the class.

During the lunch hour, Severus noticed dozens of students staring. It seemed most students either stared and whispered at Harry, Draco, or himself.

Merlin, he was involved in a rumoured homosexual love triangle with two students, one being his prophesied love, the other being his godson.

Severus dug his thumbs into his eyelids. This was a true nightmare.

He took a deep breath and told himself he was not jealous at the possibility that some of these rumours were true- that Harry was sleeping with Draco. That was a lie. He was jealous. Brutally, embarrassingly jealous.

The young man had seemed rather experienced when he'd kissed Severus and straddled him... but, no. Harry had confessed his love for him on more than one occasion. Then again, Severus had also pushed Harry away with every opportunity.

If he was sleeping with Draco, it was his own fault. Regardless, Severus couldn't help but feel that Harry was his.

Severus had only marked a couple of essays when Minerva pushed her way into his office that evening.

"You need to put a stop to these rumours." She crossed her arms and pursed her lips.

Severus sighed, slapping his palms against his desk and looked up.

"In my years of teaching, the only rumours about me were that I am evil incarnate. I did not care to refute those. I am not sure how to end these rumours."

"The students have seen you late at night with Harry in the past. Then you were both gone for quite some time. And not to mention-"

"Draco lives with you and yet there are no rumours."

"I am his grandmothers age."

"I am his father's age."

Minerva pursed her lips. "Young Malfoy and I do not share nauseatingly love sick stares with one another, in front of an audience."

"If I ever look at Harry it is not because I am lovesick. It is because I am lost in thought-"

"Yes. Thoughts about Harry. Do not attempt to play this game with me, Severus Snape. Put an end to this immediately. It is risking your career, your reputation, undermining you as a professor..."

"How do I do it? I have already put an end to all possible interactions with him."

"I have an idea... perhaps if I could persuade Draco to spend more time with Harry publicly, those rumours would overpower the more... illicit ones." She gave him a pointed look.

Pretend Draco and Harry were an item, then.

Severus felt sick to his stomach.

The nausea only increased when Draco and Harry entered the great hall for dinner the next day, holding hands. Draco sat with Harry at Gryffindor table.

Draco effortlessly conversed with Harry and his friends. Severus would never be able to provide Harry with that kind of relationship.

He knew that Sirius Black was, unfortunately and painfully, correct. Severus was not good for Harry and never would be.

Severus could not picture himself holding hands with Harry in public, demonstrating to the world that they were together and in love. Draco could give Harry that.

Severus tried not to look at them too often. The last time he did, Draco had leaned in and kissed Harry square on the mouth. Severus dropped his fork with a heavy clank and stalked back to his personal rooms.

He was in a foul mood the next day. His students all behaved perfectly, seemingly sensing that he was not to be harassed today.

His heavy desire to have a quiet evening in his rooms was thwarted when Albus sent him a memo requesting his presence at that evening's Order meeting.

He arrived rather late, dreading having to attend. Harry sat with a book and a glass of vodka. He didn't so much as look up as Severus entered. He couldn't deny that it hurt to have Harry ignore him so, especially after torturing him with the little demonstration with his godson a few hours before.

He looked at Harry a moment longer, willing the young man to please, please look at him and reassure him that he and Draco were no more than a farce, reassure him that his heart still resided with Severus.

"Severus, we were waiting for you," called Remus from the door way. Severus looked back to Harry one last time. He turned a page in his book and continued reading. Severus dejectedly followed Remus into the kitchen.

His heart dropped in his chest as he rounded the table to see his godson sitting across from him.

"Severus," he greeted him.

He bowed his head in return.

"Draco, tell them what you have learned," Minerva urged.

He cleared his throat and looked around the table. Few knew him well enough to see that he was nervous, but Severus did.

"I had a message passed along to me, I believe from my mother. The Dark Lord has plans to attack Hogwarts... soon."

Many of the members gasped, Molly seeming to be the most distraught of the group.

"Severus, have you heard anything of this?" Minerva asked.

He shook his head. "I think I may have fallen out of favor with him, I'm afraid."

He could see frustrated understanding in Albus's eyes.

Severus was not prone to panic, but he was concerned that he had yet to learn of how exactly he was supposed to save Harry in all of this. Stupid prophecies. They were never specific enough for his liking.

He'd do anything required of him to save Harry's life, but he needed to learn what that "anything" was.

Alastor and Kingsley said they would gather fighters to be at the ready for when the attack occurred. Remus and Nymphadora would assist Minerva in strengthening the wards at Hogwarts and readying the room of requirement to hide and shield the students.

Albus insisted he did not want to evacuate the school before the attack. He didn't want to let Voldemort know that they were privy to his plans. Albus also insisted that he would train and ready Harry himself for the battle.

"Train me, too." Draco demanded. Albus acquiesced.

It made no sense that Albus should be the one to train Harry. Severus was the one Harry would need to work with during the battle to survive. Shouldn't they train together? He would need to speak to Albus about that later.

As they all stood after the meeting, Severus quietly asked Draco why Harry hadn't sat in with them.

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. "He says he's a pawn, not a planner, and that I should just let him know what he had to do."

"Why bother coming tonight at all, then?"

"He came with me. It was my first Order meeting and I suppose he wanted to be here for me."

Severus clenched and unclenched his fists in quick succession.

"You ready, love?" Draco asked Harry as he stepped into the sitting room.

The next week passed easily. Order members came and went quietly each night, preparing the castle, preparing one another. They all lived in silent fear, unwilling to speak of the terror they would be facing soon. Harry neither spoke nor looked at Severus during class, or during meals. The young man was never to be seen very far from Draco.

The rumours quickly began to die down as the students accepted that Draco Malfoy was Harry Potter's boyfriend. It was no longer scandalous to see the platinum blond hair among the ginger heads surrounding Harry at meals or in the corridors.

Severus was careful to never stare too long, but Harry never looked particularly happy. He seemed as is if he wasn't really living, but just allowing life to happen to him. Harry seemed to be experiencing life the way one experienced the ocean, standing on the shore, allowing the waves to crash one after the other against their knees.

Severus stood at the massive front doors to the castle, watching several Order members casting spells and charms on the wards around the grounds. The lightening brightened the sky eerily, followed by incredibly loud claps of thunder. Several of them quit casting long enough to cast shields over themselves against the impending rain.

Minerva, Nymphadora, Hermione, Alastor, Kingsley, and Remus lifted their wands in unison, emitting bright strands of blue energy from their wands. The strands tangled together like a plait before spreading out over the grounds in the shape of a dome.

The rain came with great force, pounding the dry ground, and the windows of the castle. The team continued to work expertly. Another strike of lightning, another clap of thunder.

At this time of the evening, Albus would be in the room of requirement, training Harry and Draco on advanced defense and attack spells that would, with any luck, keep them safe.

Severus left the doorway and took a long meandering trek towards the room of requirement. This is what he was reduced to, walking the castle at night, alone, just hoping for even a glance of the young man to whom he belonged.

Each time he was gifted with the sight of Harry, he was well aware that it could be the last time- lest one or both of them should perish.

Stepping onto the last staircase before reaching the room of requirement, Draco and Harry appeared at the top of the steps. Harry's eyebrows rose in surprise and he dropped Draco's hand instantly. Draco grinned.

"Draco. Mr Potter. I hope your 'classes' are going well," he said vaguely, should there be any listening ears.

"Yes. Quite." Draco answered.

Severus turned his eyes to Harry, whose cheeks blushed. He cast his eyes downwards, refusing to make eye contact with Severus.

"Mr Potter. It is past your curfew. Perhaps I could escort Draco to his dormitory while you return to your own."

Harry turned on his heel and strode away.

"There is nothing to worry about, Sev," Draco told him cryptically as he walked past.

"I detest being called that."

"I know," Draco threw back over his shoulder.

A frustrated breath escaped through Severus's nose.

Severus had two immediate goals: to save Harry from this war, and to hold him in his arms and stare into those beautiful, green eyes until Harry could understand the depth of his love for him.

He wasn't permitted to do one, and he didn't know how to do the other.

If Severus had ever doubted the possibility of his life as a spy becoming any more complicated, he now knew he was wrong.

But, damn, he just wanted to hold Harry now.